New Role for Business School Research

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Optimists see the group as providing a new structure for scholarship.

"This could do for business schools what Sarbanes-Oxley did for business," says James Dean, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. He adds that this road map for how to deal with scholarship could broaden the view of what constitutes research and scholarly activity and could lead faculty to pursue other types of publication and projects.

Academic/Professional Dialogue

Another recommendation that has some academics wary is for the AACSB to strengthen the relationship between academics and practicing managers. The idea would be to create a two-way dialogue so that academics can explain in laymen's terms the purpose and results of their more esoteric studies. The other side of the dialogue would have practicing managers describing the most pressing issues they face as a way to offer ideas to professors on what to cover in their research.

"I don't think solving business problems with academic research is fruitful," says Regina Anctil, assistant professor at Opus College, who adds that a large chunk of the knowledge-gathering is meant to help educators do their jobs better. Anctil says that most businesspeople have surpassed the fundamentals, and business school research does not have to be as readily transferable to them. She says business research serves students. But she adds that there's room for lots of types of scholarship and that her school is in line with the AACSB's proposal because it aims to produce good teachers and researchers.

In fact, Opus dean Christopher Puto says that the balancing act is a top priority. "We're a teaching university where everyone does scholarship," says Puto, who adds that he rewards both pursuits.

Schools have until Sept. 1 to comment on the report. Ultimately, any changes to accreditation standards must be approved by a vote of the accredited schools. With or without accreditation changes however, B-school faculty clearly have two tough assignments: find the middle ground between being a good researcher and a good teacher and produce work that is useful to academics, practicing managers and students.

Di Meglio is a reporter for BusinessWeek Online in Fort Lee, N.J.